"Chu, Chu, Chu Xuan... I, I, want to kill, kill..." Zheng Zha trembled violently from the electric shock, barely able to utter a coherent sentence. Those outside heard him clearly, but when they saw Chu Xuan adjust his glasses, his fanatical gaze shifting to one of fierce determination, none dared to stop him now that the power of belief was activated. Thus, they could only look upon Zheng Zha with pity.

Zheng Zha suffered immensely within the current; it was high-voltage electricity of at least tens of thousands of volts. His body instinctively activated the Gene Lock, and within seconds, under this immense voltage, he had already advanced to the early stage of the Fourth Tier. If this continued, his body might naturally transition into the Submerged Dragon Transformation state.

"Zheng Zha, this is just the energy storage phase. A stronger energy wave will be generated later, so you might as well enter the Submerged Dragon Transformation state now. I will use the Power of Belief to protect your body; rest assured, you shouldn't die..." Chu Xuan said with absolute certainty, though the content of his words showed not a shred of assurance.

"Should, should I?" "Ugh. If it fails, you’re done for." Chu Xuan nodded firmly.

"I, I. I want to kill, kill..." Zheng Zha roared incessantly, yet he obediently began to enter the Submerged Dragon Transformation state.

As the dragon wings on his back unfurled, the entire jade platform blazed brightly. The previous electrical arcs transformed into pure, liquid flowing light, slowly meandering between the runes.

Though this spectacle appeared beautiful, Zheng Zha, immersed within it, knew his suffering intimately. The pain from the pure electrical current before was already indescribable, yet, due to his physical conditioning and internal energy protection, he could barely endure it. He might not have even needed to enter the Submerged Dragon Transformation. However, when the liquid flowing light appeared, his body felt as if it were being torn apart. Immense energy, comparable to highly compressed True Essence, flooded his body. In an instant, the fine capillaries on his skin burst open, making him look like a bloody man.

In the cultivation texts translated by Chu Xuan, this step was actually the simplest. If a cultivator assisted in the Foundation Establishment, they would input semi-finished energy—a blend between internal energy and True Essence—into the formation. While this energy was also highly compressed, it wouldn't damage the physical body; instead, it would feel like warm water, enhancing the Foundation Builder’s physical constitution. But the Central Continent Team had no cultivators.

Therefore, the inherently simple Foundation Establishment process became convoluted and extremely dangerous. In a sense, it was utterly crude.

Chu Xuan now activated the Power of Belief. He extended one hand, pointing into the void directly at Zheng Zha. The vibrant colors that usually enveloped his Gauss bullets now completely engulfed Zheng Zha. The moment the flowing light energy touched him, it erupted in colors more dazzling than a rainbow. Within this shroud of color, the pain on Zheng Zha’s face eased considerably, but the fissures on his skin continued to multiply.

"Then, I'm starting now." While activating the Power of Belief, Chu Xuan reached out and pressed down on the Demon Kinetic Cannon.

"Damn, damn... Not, not yet. Firing, firing..." Before Zheng Zha's trembling words could finish, the light on the jade platform suddenly intensified a hundredfold. Everyone painfully squeezed their eyes shut; even Chu Xuan's plano glasses turned pitch black—that thing truly seemed to possess every function imaginable... The light flashed and vanished instantly. When the crowd opened their eyes, they found the entire jade platform had turned to dust. Zheng Zha lay within, covered in blood and convulsing, looking as if he was about to die.

Without hesitation, everyone rushed forward. Zero Point and Wang Xia were the fastest, plunging into the jade debris to lift Zheng Zha. But Zheng Zha yelled desperately, "Why are you helping me! Chu Xuan is about to die! Take him to the 'Main God' for a full repair!" With that, he passed out completely.

The others instinctively looked back and saw Chu Xuan standing there, his hair snow-white. His face was etched with wrinkles, making him appear over a hundred years old. Moreover, his skin was visibly withering at an alarming rate, rapidly approaching the appearance of a skeleton.

Zhao Yingkong reacted fastest. She stamped her foot and shot to Chu Xuan's side, grabbing his collar and charging upstairs. Before she had taken more than a few steps, the look in her eyes shifted to the vacant stare associated with activating the Gene Lock, her speed accelerating to an imperceptible blur. This was the manifestation of her "Fairy Clan" trait, which enhanced her speed. Usually, when using this trait, she was too fast to control her direction, often slamming into walls. This time, inexplicably, she clearly perceived everything around her. In less than a second, she had dragged Chu Xuan from the room onto the 'Main God' plaza.

"'Main God,' full repair for him!" Zhao Yingkong shouted loudly. Only when a beam of light enveloped Chu Xuan from above did she finally relax. It was then that she realized the state she had just been in—the ability to clearly sense the speed of the 'Spirit Flash,' feeling as if everything was under complete control.

(Unlocking the Gene Lock? No, I tried unlocking it at the Second Tier and still couldn't adapt to the 'Spirit Flash' extreme speed. If it were the Third Tier, I haven't fully mastered it yet. Can simulation adapt to the speed of the 'Spirit Flash' too? Could it be... that way?) Not long ago, Zhao Yingkong had privately asked Chu Xuan a question: how to unleash the power of her dominant consciousness. If she could harness that power, her strength could immediately increase tenfold or even more. This was the power she desperately needed, but his only answer was a single sentence.

"Increase the degree of Gene Lock unlocking. The higher the Gene Lock level, the more attuned you become to the Main Consciousness, until you merge into one, which might allow you to directly break through to the middle stage of the Fourth Tier... Come to think of it, a good way to bypass the Fourth Tier Heart Demon might be to create an opposing alternate personality, right?"—That was Chu Xuan's reaction. After saying this, he immersed himself in his own research, while the unwilling Zhao Yingkong left the basement, still unclear on how to tap into the true power residing within her body.

As Zhao Yingkong stood in a daze, the other team members rushed out of Chu Xuan’s room. Zheng Zha was then given a full repair. Afterward, both he and Chu Xuan floated in the air. Zheng Zha finally descended after ten minutes, but Chu Xuan required a full half-hour of repair—an unprecedentedly long duration.

Although their injuries were healed, both remained unconscious. The energy fluctuation released at the moment of their Foundation Establishment was too intense—the energy burst from the Demon Kinetic Cannon, even incomplete, was something neither could fully withstand. While their bodies had been repaired, their spirits were utterly depleted, plunging them into unconsciousness.

It wasn't until the afternoon of the third day that Zheng Zha awoke from his coma. Before he even opened his eyes, his body informed him that the world felt different—an indescribable sensation. It was as if his eyes were naturally capable of sight, his ears of hearing, and his tongue of tasting. Now, he could truly sense the countless energies permeating the heavens. It was a profoundly mysterious feeling; if he were truly asked how he sensed these energies, where they were, or how they existed, he couldn't articulate it, much like one cannot describe what color fundamentally is. The sensation of being surrounded by energy gradually faded as Zheng Zha cleared his head, until he opened his eyes, and the surroundings seemed to return to normal.

However, the True Essence Power and Demonic Power within him were clearer than ever before, as if they had become an integral part of his body, moving effortlessly at his mental command, no longer clumsy as before.

Zheng Zha happily let the True Essence Power and Demonic Power course through him, but after only a few seconds of play, he snapped back to reality: during his Foundation Establishment, Chu Xuan seemed to have nearly died! He immediately looked around.

This was the room he shared with Lori. He was the only one on the bed. Without a second thought, Zheng Zha pulled on the clothes beside the bed and jumped off, opening the door to find a large group of people in the living room outside, all eating hotpot, their faces flushed red. When Zheng Zha burst out of his room, everyone turned to look at him, the entire scene falling silent save for the simmering sound of the hotpot.

"Uh, you're awake?" Joyful, Lori rushed into Zheng Zha's embrace.

Zheng Zha held Lori tightly, patting her head reassuringly, then urgently asked the crowd, "Where is that bastard Chu Xuan? Is he alright?" Everyone nodded. Cheng Xiao immediately laughed, "Hahaha, don't worry, that guy is Doraemon; he’s not that easy to kill. He’s probably having a great dream right now, hahaha..." (Who are you kidding?) Many in the room thought this internally, but they had more questions for Zheng Zha. Zhang Heng spoke first, "Zheng Zha, have you successfully established your foundation? How is it? Can you control True Essence Power and Demonic Power now?" Hearing that Chu Xuan was fine, Zheng Zha finally relaxed. He smiled at Zhang Heng, "Haven't tested the exact effects yet, but from what I feel, I can indeed control the True Essence Power and Demonic Power now. Alright, after we finish eating, we'll head to the basement to test the strength of this Foundation Establishment!" In truth, Foundation Establishment was just the initial stage of cultivation, comparable to just gaining a 'sense of Qi' when first practicing internal energy—it was insignificant, only slightly stronger than an ordinary person. It might improve general health, but against an enemy, unless relying purely on physical conditioning, it offered almost no combat power derived from cultivation.

However, Zheng Zha's situation was different. He didn't fight using cultivation techniques; for him, cultivation methods merely helped him better master his inherent moves and fighting styles. His true strength still lay in his three ultimate moves: 'Explosion,' 'Destruction,' and the primordial skills 'Great Desolation' and 'Sky Rend.' Whether it was physical techniques or spells, when pushed to the extreme, they became terrifyingly potent.

After everyone finished eating and drinking, Zheng Zha gathered with the others in the basement. There was a platform made entirely of alloy steel—his usual practice area. He stood alone on the platform, eyes closed, sensing the True Essence Power and Demonic Power within him.

"'Explosion' and 'Destruction' rely on internal energy and Vampire energy; True Essence Power and Demonic Power don't affect them. So, I can only test the moves where True Essence Power and Demonic Power play a role. First, this one!" Zheng Zha pondered briefly, then separated a strand of True Essence Power and a strand of Demonic Power toward his palms. As the two energies neared his hands, he immediately began to restrain the flow of these two energies. Only tiny amounts of True Essence Power and Demonic Power intersected at the center of his palms. In an instant, a brilliantly bright sphere of light, apple-sized, appeared there, but it did not detonate as it might have in the realm of Tian Sha. First, he could now control the energies; second, his Micro-control Realm allowed him to separate only minuscule amounts of each power. Combined, this light sphere, analogous to the energy of the Demon Kinetic Cannon, existed peacefully.

Zheng Zha held the sphere of light and pressed it forcefully down onto the metal surface. With a tremendous boom, the light sphere didn't explode, but upon contact, it unleashed an extremely terrifying pressure. Fortunately, this pressure was also under the control of Zheng Zha's True Essence Power and Demonic Power, directed entirely into the platform. Instantly, dust and metal shavings billowed several feet high. When the debris finally settled, those watching from a distance saw that the steel platform had completely sunk in, leaving a massive crater roughly thirty meters in diameter. Zheng Zha stood unharmed, simply staring blankly at his hands.

"Good! If I can use this semi-finished Primordial product... Copy of me! I finally have the strength to fight you!" he leaped up.